Ice hockey hammer: national coach Söderholm before lightning farewell

A bang for the national ice hockey team: According to media reports, national coach Toni Söderholm is about to switch to top Swiss club SC Bern just two days after the triumph at the Deutschland Cup.

Peter Merten, President of the German Ice Hockey Federation, left a “SID” request uncommented.

Söderholm, who succeeded Olympic silver medalist Marco Sturm in December 2018, only extended his expiring contract in March until 2026 and led the national team to the quarter-finals at the World Cup in Finland with the best preliminary round in history.

Only on Sunday did the 44-year-old successfully defend the Germany Cup in Krefeld with the DEB team.

Söderholm once played for Bern

At his first World Cup in 2019, the Finn reached the quarterfinals with the DEB selection after a strong preliminary round, two years later the German team even stormed into the semifinals and climbed to fifth place in the world rankings.

The early end at the Olympic Games in Beijing in the playoff for the quarter-finals was the first setback.

Bern fired Johan Lundskog earlier this month. Söderholm played as a defender for SCB from 2005 to 2007 and finished runners-up in his second season with the club. In 2016 he won the DEL title with Red Bull Munich.

In future, Söderholm will meet former NHL professional and German international Dominik Kahun in Bern.

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